[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 61 (Tuesday, March 31, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15422-15423]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-8343]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
[30 Day-10-98]


Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction Act Review

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publishes a 
list of information collection requests under review by the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) in compliance with the Paperwork Reduction 
Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). To request a copy of these requests, call 
the CDC Reports Clearance Officer at (404) 639-7090. Send written 
comments to CDC, Desk Officer; Human Resources and Housing Branch, New 
Executive Office Building, Room 10235; Washington, DC 20503. Written 
comments should be received within 30 days of this notice.

Proposed Projects

    1. National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey--(0920-0278)--
Extension--The National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey 
(NHAMCS) has been conducted annually since 1992 by the Division of 
Health Care Statistics, National Center for Health Statistics, CDC. The 
NHAMCS is the principal source of data on the approximately 158 million 
visits to hospital emergency and outpatient departments and is the only 
source of nationally representative estimates on the demographic 
characteristics of outpatients, diagnoses, diagnostic services, 
medication therapy, and the patterns of use of care in hospitals which 
differ in size, location, and ownership. Additionally, the NHAMCS is 
the only source of national estimates on non-fatal causes of injury in 
the emergency department.
    These data complement the data on visits to non-Federal physicians 
in office-based practices collected through the NHAMCS (0920-0234), 
together providing data on approximately 90 percent of the ambulatory 
care provided in the U.S. Data collected through the NHAMCS are 
essential for the planning of health services, for improving medical 
education, determining health care work force needs and assessing the 
health status of the population. Users of NHAMCS data include, but are 
not limited to, congressional offices, Federal agencies such as NIH, 
various private associations such as the American Heart Association, as 
well as universities and state health departments. Total annual burden 
hours are 7,062.

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                                                                          No. of      Avg. burden/              
                       Form name                            No. of      responses/   response  (in  Total burden
                                                          respondents   respondent       hrs.)        (in hrs.) 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hospital-Induction (NHAMCS-101):                                                                                
    Noneligible........................................            50             1       0.25                13
    Eligible...........................................           440             1       1                  440
Ambulatory Unit Induction (ED) (NHAMCS-101/U)..........           425             1       1                  425
Ambulatory Unit Induction (OPD) (NHAMCS-101/U).........           275             4       1                 1100
ED Patient Record form.................................           425            50       0.06666          1,417
OPD Patient Record form................................           275           200       0.066666         3,667
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    2. National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey--(0920-0234)--
Extension--The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) was 
conducted annually from 1973 to 1981, again in 1985, and resumed as an 
annual survey in 1989. It is directed by the Division of Health Care 
Statistics, National Center for Health Statistics, CDC. The purpose of 
NAMCS is to meet the needs and demands for statistical information 
about the provision of ambulatory medical care services in the United 
States. Ambulatory services are rendered in a wide variety of settings, 
including physicians' offices and hospital outpatient and emergency 
departments. The NAMCS target population consists of all office visits 
within the United States made by ambulatory patients to non-Federal 
office-based physicians (excluding those in the specialties of 
anesthesiology, radiology, and pathology) who are engaged in direct 
patient care. The complement portion of data collection consists of the 
remaining physicians in the AMA and AOA files; that is, physicians who 
AMA and AOA classify as being federally employed, or in the three 
specialties excluded from the traditional NAMCS, or as not spending the 
majority of their professional time in office-based practice. Since 
more than 80 percent of all direct ambulatory medical care visits occur 
in physicians' offices, the NAMCS provides data on the majority of 
ambulatory medical care services. To complement these data, in 1992 
NCHS initiated the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey 
(NHAMCS, OMB No. 0920-0278) to provide data concerning patient visits 
to hospital outpatient and emergency departments. The NAMCS, together 
with the NHAMCS constitute the ambulatory component of the National 
Health Care Survey (NHCS), and will provide coverage of more than 90 
percent of ambulatory medical care.
    The NAMCS provides a range of baseline data on the characteristics 
of the users and providers of ambulatory medical care. Data collected 
include the patients' demographic characteristics and medical problems, 
and the physicians' diagnostic services, therapeutic prescriptions and 
disposition decisions. These data, together with trend data, may be 
used to monitor the effects of change in the health care system, 
provide new insights into ambulatory medical care,

[[Page 15423]]

and stimulate further research on the use, organization, and delivery 
of ambulatory care.
    Users of NAMCS data include congressional and other Federal 
government agencies (e.g. NIMH, NIAAA, NCI, HRSA), State and local 
governments, medical schools, schools of public health, colleges and 
universities, private businesses, nonprofit foundations and 
corporations, professional associations, as well as individual 
practitioners, researchers, administrators and health planners. Users 
vary from the inclusion of a few selected statistics in a large 
research effort, to an in-depth analysis of the entire NAMCS data set 
covering several years. Total annual burden hours are 3,350.

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                                                                          No. of      Avg. burden/              
                       Form name                            No. of      responses/   response  (in  Total burden
                                                          respondents   respondent       hrs.)        (in hrs.) 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NAMCS:                                                                                                          
    Induction..........................................         2,500             1         0.25             625
    Patient Record.....................................         2,500            30         0.0333         2,500
COMPLEMENT:                                                                                                     
    Induction..........................................           500             1         0.25             125
    Patient Record.....................................           100            30         0.0333           100
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Charles Gollmar,
Acting Associate Director for Policy, Planning, and Evaluation Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
[FR Doc. 98-8343 Filed 3-30-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P